Mara blinked at me. “Why not? And what is he doing for you?”
“Being adorable,” I said with a smile, leaning against the counter. “That’s enough for me for now.” I paused, and tilted my head to the side conciliatorily. “He’s also gotten pretty good at handies.”
Mara snorted a laugh. “I can’t decide if that’s a waste of a sweet, pink ass or if you’re just too nice.”
I grinned in surprised. “You seem to know a lot about how men fuck each other for someone who is not a man.”
“Oh, but I am,” she said. “According to the official register of the college. Remember? The college doesn’t admit women.”
I shook my head. “Does Lucius think you’re a man?”
Before Mara could answer, the door to Leander and Darius’s room opened…and Lucius stepped out wearing nothing but a towel around his waist. His body was flushed and bore more than a few marks, and his lips were pink and swollen. He rubbed his tousled head for a moment before freezing as he realized Mara and I were standing right there. Then his eyes went wide.
“I…I can explain,” he blurted in a near panic.
My jaw dropped to the floor. “I thought you hated Leander and Darius,” I said.
“He does,” Darius said, nudging Lucius out of the way so he could walk into the common room, completely naked and still a bit messy from fucking. “It was a hate-fuck.”
“I didn’t think you liked men,” I said, still floored.
“I don’t,” Lucius growled, though he was looking at Mara with a slightly panicked flash in his eyes as he did. “I was just….” His mouth flapped, but no excuse followed.
Mara burst into laughter. It was the last thing I expected, especially since I was half convinced something had developed between the two of them. But there was so much mirth in her eyes as she shook her head at Lucius that I didn’t know what to think anymore.
“It’s not funny,” Lucius said sullenly, stomping toward his bedroom. “It just happened.”
“I’m not laughing at you,” Mara insisted, chasing after him. “I’m laughing along with you, because there must be a story behind all this, and I definitely want to hear it.”
I wanted to hear it too, but Mara and Lucius disappeared into Lucius’s room, and the door slammed behind them.
Appius had watched the entire scene from the doorway to my room, his eyes wide. “I…I thought Lucius and Mara…I thought they were together.”
“They probably are,” Leander said, wandering out of the bedroom, also naked and only slightly less of a mess than his brother, “but when has that ever stopped anyone from releasing a little stress?”
He winked at me as he spoke, then slapped Darius’s ass hard as he made his way over to me to see how the tea was coming along.
Darius made a campy, squealing sound and rubbed his ass while giving Leander a look that was definitely not ordinary for brothers.
And I just shook my head and went back to making tea. Because that was what my life had come to. We were trapped in a confined space with a limited number of people, our lives were in jeopardy in too many ways, and if people were randy without any sort of discrimination in how they dealt with it, what could I do about it?
“You’re next, sweet Appius,” Darius said, making a rude gesture while handling his cock in Appius’s general direction.
Appius squeaked and rushed to hide against me. I didn’t know whether to laugh or scream at the madness of it all.
I chose to laugh.
“Appius, for fuck’s sake, how old are you?” I asked.
“Twenty-one,” he mumbled.
My brow shot up. He was the same age as me. “I would have sworn you were sixteen.”
That got Appius’s back up. He snapped straight and frowned at me. “I’m not a child, you know, just…inexperienced.”
Maybe it was the confinement of the last month, or maybe it was the general feeling that I was living in some sort of nightmare instead of reality, or maybe it was just me missing Dushka and the Sons of the Cities so desperately, but I didn’t hesitate in reacting rashly.
“Come on,” I said, putting down the tea I’d been holding and grabbing Appius’s hand. “We’re putting an end to this.”